


Just One Moment

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: Holly's Round Six Trope Bingo Card [21]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Canon Temporary Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 06:49:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7303924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the bright lights of the hospital, Leonard finally honors the reality of his feelings for his captain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just One Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my Round Six Trope Bingo Card.

Leonard isn't really even thinking when he does it. All he can see is Jim's vitals normalizing from the bitter, damning nothing that had been there only moments before. He's lost track of how long it took to synthesize the serum, lost track of how many times Chekov has brought him coffee, how many times Sulu and Uhura and Scotty have brought him meals because he refused to be dragged him away from his work to eat, how many times Spock has come to stand, silent and stoic at the foot of Jim's bed while Leonard worked. It's been hard work and long hours and nothing to relieve the stress and pain of Jim's absence through it all.

So he isn't really thinking when he does it. He just leans down and presses a kiss to Jim's forehead. No one sees it. No one even has to know that it happened. But the second his lips touch Jim's skin, Leonard feels like his whole world has been rocked.

Jim, for all that he's loud and brash and frustrating as all hell, has fit nicely into the box that Leonard constructed for him for the last four years. The one carefully labeled, _Don't go there_. And now, on the other side of the terror and the loss, the lid that Leonard had so viciously slammed down on that box years ago has been just as viciously ripped off, leaving him vulnerable to… well. To things like what he just did.

It turns his stomach a little to know that it was this--almost losing Jim--that gave him permission to crack open the lid on his feelings. It makes sense, of course, but that doesn't make it any more unsettling. Jim is his port in the storm of Starfleet and has been since the day he settled down beside him on a shuttle out of Iowa. Jim had been the one to insist and prod and cajole Leonard into finishing all the coursework necessary for an off-planet posting and the one that had coaxed him into applying for a position on the Enterprise. Jim dragged Leonard to this point not quite against his will but certainly against his plans and that. Well. That's enough to make everything worth it.

Leonard can't help the way he ghosts his fingers through Jim's hair, limp where it rests over skin that is still too pale for comfort. But the quiet hums and beeps from the equipment behind him is enough to remind Leonard that this is only temporary. That Jim will be back on his feet soon. That Jim is _alive_ and that he will stay that way for as long as Leonard can damn well manage it. It's enough, at least for now. But that doesn't stop Leonard from leaning in again and pressing another kiss to Jim's forehead.

He won't be able to have this when Jim's awake, but he'll be damned if he won't take advantage of the last few days of near-certain safety, of being able to keep him confined to a bed and out of any relative danger. He'll take what he can get, because once they go back out into the black there may be no way to keep him safe again. As terrifying as it is, it's enough to make Leonard certain that he needs to hold onto whatever moments he has. So he lets his lips linger a moment longer before he straightens and turns back to his work.

They're not out of the woods yet, but with Jim's luck and Leonard's determination, they'll make it, of that he is certain.

**Author's Note:**

> [Come hang with me on tumblr!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/)


End file.
